Love & Other Carnivorous Plants

February 1, 2018

Gr 9 Up-Lots of friends have plans, but Danny and her BFF, Sara, had The Plan. It was cultivated for years, until Danny decides to enroll in Harvard and proceeds to have a less-than-perfect first semester. A drunken confession results in Danny spending her second semester in St. John's receiving unwanted treatment for an eating disorder. She is determined to keep her time in recovery a secret from Sara, but when her crush shows up at one of Sara's parties, Danny's cover may be blown. She struggles to balance her changing relationship with Sara with her budding romance. A sudden tragedy triggers Danny, sending her back into a tumultuous struggle for control. Heavy topics, such as binge drinking, drug use, and body dysmorphia, are given a very real voice through Danny. She uses humor not as a means of devaluing her struggles, but as a way to cope with the very things that threaten to tear her apart. Readers are spared a neat and unrealistic ending as Danny grapples with trying to manage her demons rather than exorcise them forever. Wondering how she is going to handle all of the obstacles in her way will keep teens engaged. A list of resources is provided for those who have experience or know someone with similar illnesses. Fans of Sarah Dessen will appreciate Danny's relatable and realistic journey. VERDICT A must-have sharp, powerful, and witty immersion into the complexities of sexual identity and mental health.-Carrie Finberg, South Park High School, PA

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2018
When the life plan she'd laid out implodes, a college freshman finds herself having to regroup.On the surface, snarky protagonist/narrator Dandelion "Danny" Berkowitz seems destined to succeed: The attractive, upper-middle-class high school valedictorian has returned home from Harvard for the summer, ready to reconnect with her popular, equally overachieving, tennis-obsessed best friend, Sara. Unbeknownst to Sara or anyone else in their circle of friends, however, Danny spent second semester at a clinic undergoing in-patient treatment for an eating disorder and anxiety. Along with the internalized fear of failure both teens wrestle with privately, Sara has been saving face by keeping secrets of her own, spelling tragic consequences for their friendship. A turning point comes when Danny enters a romantic relationship with a mutual female friend without telling Sara, who then makes insensitive remarks about another girl who is a lesbian. Gonsalves juggles multiple serious adolescent challenges with operatic verve--eating disorders, substance abuse, sexual awakening and orientation, mental health, grief--and the resulting bildungsroman proves engaging and enlightening, particularly in her realistic depiction of compulsive behaviors related to food. All characters are assumed white.A feel-good debut sure to interest teens looking to feel better about not feeling so great. (author's note, resource list) (Fiction. 14-18)

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March 26, 2018
In her YA debut, Gonsalves’s wonderfully named protagonist, Dandelion (Danny), is at a moment of personal crisis. Following a disastrous first year at Harvard and time spent in treatment for an eating disorder, Danny is home for the summer. Her best friend is thrilled, but she is struggling with her own issues (substance abuse), and their relationship turns rocky quickly; the narrative veers toward the melodramatic as a way of amping up tension. Danny is also uncertain whether she’s gay or straight, though she’s definitely attracted to Bugg, a young woman she met at the treatment center. Just as Danny begins a romance with Bugg, tragedy upends her progress. Gonsalves realistically conveys Danny’s wide range of emotions, especially her anger. As Danny finds her footing, her most profound realization comes through accepting that she can live her life on her own terms and that she need not have it all figured out quite yet. Ages 14–up. Agent: Danielle Burby, Nelson Literary Agency.

Starred review from February 15, 2018
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Danny and Sara had a planbest friends forever, stretching from kindergarten to old age, with a stint at college in between. But when Danny gets into Harvard, the plan derails, and so does the girls' joined-at-the-hip status. However, this is only part of the reason Danny can't tell Sara the truth about her freshman year: struggling with classes, developing an eating disorder, and going through a treatment program that introduced her to the girl she just can't get out of her headand who seems to pop up when she's least expected. Gonsalves' debut is a pitch-perfect take on what happens when the future you imagined doesn't live up to expectations, and every misstep seems to unravel the person you thought you'd become. A heartbreaking twist raises the stakes of Danny's transformative personal journey, but the struggle of holding on to an old friendship while discovering a new version of yourself should resonate with any reader. This genuinely funny novel about some harrowing topics manages to balance humor and pathos perfectly. Readers who connected with J. J. Johnson's Believarexic (2015) or Sam J. Miller's The Art of Starving (2017) will want this book, as will the many John Green fans who crave intelligent stories that occupy both shadow and light.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2018
A tumultuous first semester at Harvard forces nineteen-year-old Dandelion "Danny" Berkowitz to enter treatment for an eating disorder. A burgeoning romance with an older girl from rehab eases her transition home for the summer, but a sudden tragedy sends Danny into another self-destructive spiral. Danny's wry observations inject much-needed humor into sobering situations, and an encouraging it's-okay-to-not-have-everything-figured-out message will resonate with readers.

(Copyright 2018 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)